If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

One Winged Angel l ダクエンジェル

''The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the Planet, calling up magic.''

Sephiroth was designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Sephiroth, in all his appearances, wears a long black coat with silver pauldrons, black boots and black clothing. The top of his clothing is open to reveal his chest, with his leather SOLDIER suspenders crossed over it. Sephiroth's hair is long and silver with his bangs parted to either side of his face. In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Sephiroth's bangs are noticeably shorter than in any of his earlier appearances. Beyond his clothing and hair, Sephiroth is known for his green cat-like eyes and the Masamune, his seven-foot long katana he is rarely seen without. His battle stance with the sword is to hold it over his left shoulder with the blade curving downward. Sephiroth usually wields the Masamune two-handed. In later appearances a single black wing emerges from his right shoulder.

In the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth's uniform remains the same as in Final Fantasy VII, but his coat has several buckles instead of just one, and the original SOLDIER logo in his belt is replaced with the redesigned version of the logo for the Compilation.

In the Kingdom Hearts series, Sephiroth retains his core design of silver hair and a black coat, but his clothing is given red linings and is a different shape. His sleeves have small red wings, and he bears a dark blue and black wing over his right shoulder, which has become another of Sephiroth's trademark character traits. He bears two additional wings underneath his coat in Kingdom Hearts II. Unlike his other appearances, he appears with blue eyes, and it is commented by other characters that Sephiroth looks like Cloud, as the Kingdom Hearts incarnation of Sephiroth is implied to be an embodiment of Cloud's inner darkness. In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Sephiroth's design is similar to his Final Fantasy VII design, but his pauldrons are changed to resemble Yoshitaka Amano's artwork and his coat is closed by a
belt as in Tetsuya Nomura's design.

Sephiroth's personality is one of cold ruthlessness. Prior to his madness, he was not particularly anti-social, as he has friends in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and willingly tells Zack, and Tifa about Mako and Materia on Mt. Nibel. All the same, his cold exterior and professional attitude turn people away. Sephiroth is intelligent and respectful to those he deems worthy - he considers Professor Gast Faremis a great scientist, but looks down on his father, Professor Hojo, describing him as "a walking mass of complexes." In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Sephiroth maintains an outwardly professional demeanor, but is loyal and friendly to a select few, and has a dry sense of humor. He is confident to the point of arrogance, but as the strongest SOLDIER alive, it could easily be argued he has the right to be. Well-spoken and somewhat graceful, Sephiroth is universally calm, collected, and in control. He can be frustrated and caught off guard, but this rarely happens.

Following his fall into insanity, Sephiroth retains most of the above personality traits, but becomes murderous and vengeful. He also develops something of a messiah complex, proclaiming several times he is "the chosen one," destined to lead the Planet and become a god. In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Kefka calls him "Just another sadist with a god complex. Like THAT'S anything special!" His intelligence has increased vastly following his time in the Lifestream where he absorbed the knowledge of the Ancients. At one point, Sephiroth even says he is greater than the Ancients. He has become cruel and enjoys mentally torturing Cloud. In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, in one of his iconic lines, asks Cloud what he cherishes so he may simply take it from him. Sephiroth is fiercely devoted to Jenova and her cause, even though her body serves as little more than his avatar. However, it is also stated that he himself is an agent towards Jenova's will.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy, there was at least one hint that Sephiroth may have some sadness despite his nature, as Cecil Harvey tells Sephiroth before fighting him that "there is sorrow in [Sephiroth's] wintery eyes." In addition, in both Dissidia games, when he is defeated, he calmly remarks, "I fall into the shadows," implying that either he accepts defeat, or simply does not care. When he was defeated by the Warrior of Light, he asks if the Warrior of Light fights in the war because he enjoys battle, implying that Sephiroth himself enjoys battle. This was further reinforced in its prequel, Dissidia 012, when Kefka Palazzo, when attempting to convince Sephiroth into killing Tifa and then Cloud if he attacked, mentioned that was made for combat.

In the Japanese releases, Sephiroth uses the pronoun "ore" prior to his insanity, a common masculine pronoun usually used by confident males. Following his "death" at Nibelheim he begins to use "watashi" instead, a more formal pronoun with no attached gender. This post-madness mannerism is also used in his spin-off appearances such as Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Sephiroth was born to Professor Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent approximately twenty-seven years before Final Fantasy VII (exact date of birth unknown). Before Sephiroth's birth, Hojo and Lucrecia were working as assistants to Professor Gast, Shinra Electric Power Company's top scientist, on the Jenova Project. The project studied the remains of an extra-terrestrial entity known as Jenova, who was mistakenly thought to be one of the Cetra, an ancient people that had the power to "talk to the Planet." Hojo injected cell samples from Jenova into the pregnant Lucrecia and her unborn baby. Lucrecia carried Sephiroth to term, his fetal form merging with the Jenova cells as he developed. After the baby was born, he was taken away from Lucrecia by Shinra scientists. She never even had a chance to hold her child.

After his birth, Shinra raised Sephiroth to be a super soldier. They told him nothing of his mother except that her name was "Jenova," and that she died during childbirth. It is unknown if Sephiroth knew Hojo was his father, but he considered the scientist a hack, referring to him as "inexperienced" and "a walking mass of complexes" — however, Sephiroth respected Professor Gast until he left Shinra under Ifalna's guidance. Sephiroth proves to be incredibly strong, gaining worldwide fame for his exploits such as his role in Shinra's victory against Wutai in 0000. He was aware since childhood that he was different from the other children, although he did not know the exact reasons why he was different until several years later.

President Shinra comes to rely on Sephiroth during the events of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, calling Sephiroth in whenever the situation personally threatens the President's life, like during the first AVALANCHE attack on Junon on February 30, 0001. Sephiroth engages the AVALANCHE leader, Elfé, but she blocks his strikes, impressing him. While the two are fighting, Elfé questions why Sephiroth is fighting. She asks whether he ever wants to "fight for a reason," which seems to have a profound effect on him. The results of Sephiroth choosing to fight for a reason would one day threaten the entire Planet's existence. He is later sent in on June 18, 0002, to "rescue" Professor Hojo who had almost defected with the AVALANCHE forces attacking the Shinra Headquarters.

In SOLDIER, Sephiroth has two friends, Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos. Though the three are rival SOLDIERs First Class, they see each other as close friends. When Genesis and Sephiroth duel in the virtual reality Junon, Sephiroth seems to be the strongest, but the fight ends inconclusively. Angeal stops the fight before either hurt each other too badly, although the small wound Genesis takes does not heal. Sephiroth offers his blood as a transfusion, but is told his blood is not compatible. Genesis defects from Shinra, making Sephiroth uneasy about his missions against him, and when ordered to go to Banora to track him down, Sephiroth refuses the mission. Just before his final mission, Sephiroth hints he may leave Shinra altogether.

In what would become his final mission, Sephiroth is ordered to inspect the Mako Reactor outside the town of Nibelheim on September 22, 0002. He enters with a small entourage, consisting of one other member of SOLDIER and a few Shinra MPs. Among this group is SOLDIER 1st Class member Zack Fair and his friend, a seventeen-year-old Shinra trooper named Cloud Strife. At the reactor, Sephiroth finds several pod-like chambers containing monstrous creatures, apparently former humans, mutated by exposure to Mako. Deeper inside, he finds a larger chamber labeled "JENOVA" containing a strange feminine-looking creature. When Zack suggests a connection between SOLDIER and the creatures in the tanks, Sephiroth flies into a rage, deeply horrified that the reason he was "different" and "special" from everyone else was because he was created from the remains of a monster.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- shows an expanded version of events at the Nibelheim Incident, and Genesis plays a large part in Sephiroth's madness. During this time, Genesis tells Sephiroth he was born from the Jenova Project, its goal to produce a "monster." Going in more depth about Jenova and the project Genesis states more facts, but Sephiroth does not understand all of what Genesis tries to tell him. In addition, he also ends up enraged with Genesis's revelation, vowing that Genesis will "rot" after deciding that it does not matter what Genesis's intentions were of telling Sephiroth this.

Deeply disturbed by the fact the creature had the same name as his "mother," and by the idea he might have been created in an experiment similar to the one that created the monsters in the pods, Sephiroth makes his way to the manor that had been occupied by Shinra researchers, and begins reading the research notes in the basement library. As a result of what he learns, Sephiroth becomes enraged and psychotic. Based on the Shinra reports, he comes to believe Jenova was a Cetra, and therefore he as Jenova's "son" is the last Cetra survivor. He also believes the human race had betrayed the Cetra 2,000 years in the past, leaving them alone to defend the Planet from a calamity it had faced (eventually revealed to have been Jenova itself), and resolves to take vengeance for his "ancestors."

On October 1st, Sephiroth proceeds to destroy Nibelheim, setting the town on fire and killing many of the townspeople, before returning to the reactor to claim Jenova's remains. He is pursued by Tifa's father, Tifa, Zack, and Cloud. At the reactor, Tifa takes up Sephiroth's Masamune from her father's corpse and attacks him, but he disarms her and cuts her down. Shortly after entering Jenova's chamber, Zack arrives and attacks him.
In Final Fantasy VII Zack is easily defeated, but Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- alters this into a full battle where Zack fights Sephiroth in a fair fight. Either way, Zack is defeated and tossed out of the chamber. Cloud enters the reactor and picks up Zack's Buster Sword, rushing after Sephiroth. Caught off-guard, Sephiroth is impaled from behind through the abdomen and collapses.

Due to Sephiroth's enhanced anatomy he survives Cloud's assault, though wounded greatly. As Cloud leaves him to tend to Tifa, Sephiroth slices off Jenova's head and stumbles from the room. Cloud attacks him again, but Sephiroth stabs him with the Masamune. Cloud summons unknown strength and uses the sword as a lever, hurling Sephiroth into a pool of Mako below the reactor. Sephiroth vanishes with Jenova's head still in his grasp, apparently falling to his death. In Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- the scene depicts Sephiroth jumping into the pool of Mako willingly, having noted he is unable to defeat Cloud. Following the Nibelheim Incident, Shinra seals the records on Sephiroth, declaring him killed in action, and rebuilds Nibelheim in order to cover the incident up, populating it with Shinra employees paid to act as the town's citizens.

In actuality Sephiroth fell into the Lifestream, his willpower too great to allow himself to be consumed. Over the next several years Sephiroth travels the Lifestream, increasing in power and knowledge, and eventually the fragments of his body congregate at the Northern Cave inside the North Crater, joining to recreate Sephiroth's physical form in a cocoon of Mako. His powers and desires enhanced, Sephiroth's goal now is to merge with the Lifestream and seize control of it to become a god.

Though his physical body is encased in Mako, Sephiroth is now able to control Jenova's cells as an extension of his body and thus act on his plans through her. Hojo meanwhile injects Zack, Cloud and the survivors of Nibelheim (save for Tifa who was rescued by Zangan before Shinra found her) with Sephiroth's cells, turning them into Sephiroth Clones. Hojo believed the Jenova cells inside Sephiroth would call for a "reunion" of those who shared her cells, and wished to see his theory put to the test.

Approximately five years after his supposed death, in December 0007, Sephiroth enacts his plan and puts out the call for the reunion to call the Sephiroth Clones to travel to the North Cave. Jenova's remains, which had been moved to Shinra Headquarters in Midgar, shapeshift into Sephiroth's form and break out of containment. Jenova/Sephiroth releases Cloud and the members of AVALANCHE, who were being held prisoner, and kills President Shinra after declaring Shinra should never acquire the Promised Land. Cloud, seeing Sephiroth's Masamune left at the scene of President Shinra's death, suspects Sephiroth may be alive, and sets out with AVALANCHE to find him and settle the score for what happened to Nibelheim.

The party first sees Sephiroth on the Cargo Ship, where he alludes to the Jenova Reunion. He also appears some time later in Nibelheim, where he again mentions the Reunion. At the Temple of the Ancients Sephiroth reveals the full extent of his plans - the Planet relies on the Lifestream to heal itself when wounded, and the North Crater where the Lifestream is abundant is where Jenova fell two thousand years ago. Using the Black Materia, Sephiroth plans to call the Ultimate Destructive Magic - Meteor. The impact caused by Meteor will heavily injure the Planet, and Sephiroth will place himself at the center of its impact zone as the Lifestream emerges to heal the Planet's wound. Thus Sephiroth will merge with the Lifestream, becoming a god ruling over the Planet.

Cloud succeeds in acquiring the Black Materia, but Sephiroth exerts his influence over Jenova's cells and takes control of Cloud, who hands the Materia over to Jenova. At this time, Aeris Gainsborough, the true last survivor of the Cetra, tries to use the White Materia to summon Holy, the only power able to counter Meteor. During her attempt to call forth the Ultimate White Magic, Sephiroth (or rather, Jenova transformed into his image) impales her with his sword, killing her. Though Aeris had successfully called Holy, Sephiroth holds it back within the Planet with his will as augmented by Jenova's power. Cloud and his allies continue tracking Sephiroth to the North Crater.

At the crater, Cloud kills Jenova in Sephiroth's form and reclaims the Black Materia, this time giving it to a party member to keep it safe. Cloud and Tifa continue deeper into the crater and an illusion of Nibelheim's destruction that Sephiroth conjured in order to to break Cloud by revealing that his mind pieced together the events of him there instead of Zack. Furthermore, Sephiroth breaks Cloud by deceiving him into thinking that he is nothing more than a cluster of Jenova cells that assumed the identity of a boy named "Cloud."

Sephiroth's manipulations and lies take their toll, and shattered Cloud's fragile mind. Meanwhile, Sephiroth projects an illusion of Tifa to appear before the party members left behind to bring the Black Materia to Cloud. Once Cloud takes back the Black Materia, Sephiroth reveals his true body as he receives the stone and uses it to summon the Meteor. The crater collapses, and Cloud's allies are forced to flee with Rufus Shinra. The Planet unleashes the Weapons from their sleep and Sephiroth erects an energy barrier over the crater to keep them from detecting him.

With the Weapons wreaking havoc and keeping his enemies from rallying against him, Sephiroth begins shapeshifting his body into a form befitting a god, awaiting Meteor's arrival. Cloud eventually recovers and the party receives unlikely assistance from Shinra. In later January 0008, they fire the Mako cannon, known as the Sister Ray, at the North Crater, piercing Sephiroth's barrier and allowing Cloud and his allies to enter the crater and find Sephiroth.

Descending into the crater, they eventually find Sephiroth at the Planet's core, blocking Holy. Emerging from his larval Bizarro∙Sephiroth form upon defeat, Sephiroth as the angelic Safer∙Sephiroth, a god-like being with seven wings and great power. Cloud and his allies destroy Sephiroth, but his mind endures as Cloud and his allies begin to escape the crater. Pulling Cloud into a metaphysical final battle, Sephiroth attempts to take control of Cloud, but Cloud's mental defenses have grown, and he defeats Sephiroth. Battered and bloody, Sephiroth dissolves into the Lifestream, seemingly destroyed forever.

Sephiroth is mentioned frequently in Hoshi wo Meguru Otome, as Aerith observes the effects Sephiroth's actions are having on the Lifestream and the Planet.

Sephiroth is also the focus of the On the Way to a Smile novella "Case of the Lifestream - Black". Here, Sephiroth uses the Lifestream's emergence to fight Meteor to infect the Planet with Geostigma, dispersing his memories among the Lifestream to spread the disease. As Sephiroth is faced with dissolution into the Lifestream, he manages to avoid this by focusing on his hatred of Cloud, which allows him to maintain a core sense of being and remain separate from the other spirits. With his peripheral memories including those of his personal appearance stripped away over time, he uses memories of how others in the Lifestream see him to craft his avatars and sends them to find Jenova's remains to reform a true body for himself.

During the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in 0009, Sephiroth is still dead but remains an active force terrorizing the Planet. Geostigma has spread throughout the world, afflicting many with extreme fatigue and open skin sores. The plague is revealed to be caused by Jenova's remaining consciousness in the Lifestream, and primarily affects children due to their weaker immune systems. The disease has also affected Cloud, who experiences visions of Sephiroth numerous times during the film.

The now-reclusive Cloud finds himself confronted by a trio of silver-haired men who are physical manifestations of Sephiroth's will. The three, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo, believe they are guided by their "mother" Jenova, but rather it is Sephiroth himself who forces their actions. The three seek Jenova's cells in order to be reunited with her, unaware of Sephiroth's ultimate plan to recreate a true body for himself using Jenova's last remnants.

In the film's climax Kadaj absorbs Jenova's cells, and Sephiroth exerts his power over Jenova to shapeshift Kadaj's body into his own visage, restoring him to life once again. Sephiroth faces Cloud and reveals his new plan - to taint the Lifestream with those dead of Geostigma to the point he is able to control it, and use the Planet as a vessel to travel space and find a new Planet for him to rule.

Sephiroth and Cloud fight in the ruins of Midgar, and Sephiroth eventually gains the upper hand. Taunting Cloud before dealing the final blow, Cloud is reinvigorated by memories of his friends and family and destroys Sephiroth with Omnislash Version 5, utilizing his Fusion Swords to assault him from all directions. Weakened, Sephiroth's final words are "I will...never be a memory." His black wing folds around him and fades away in a flurry of dark feathers, leaving a weakened Kadaj to die and fade into the Lifestream as Aerith calls healing rain to cure the Planet of Geostigma. Chronologically Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is Sephiroth's final appearance in the Final Fantasy VII timeline, and his current status is unknown, though it is likely given his past tenacity he continues to exist within the Lifestream.

Although Sephiroth himself does not appear during the events of Final Fantasy VII -Dirge of Cerberus-, he is mentioned a few times. The first mention is in a flashback with Lucrecia, who, while pregnant, experiences a vision as to what her child would become, which shows Sephiroth destroying Nibelheim. The second mention is from Weiss, when explaining that he is actually Hojo possessing his body after his death three years prior.

It was Tetsuya Nomura's idea to have a story in Final Fantasy VII where the player would chase Sephiroth. Following a moving enemy had not been done before in the Final Fantasy series, and Nomura thought that chasing something would help pull the story along.

According to the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, Sephiroth's relationship with Aerith was changed numerous times during production. At some phases they were to be lovers, in others siblings before their relationship was finalized in the final script. As a sign of their implied connection, Nomura gave the two similar hairstyles in their artwork. Sephiroth's long hair was tricky to make with polygons at the time, and Nomura also wanted to show a contrast between Cloud and Sephiroth in their designs. The image of Cloud and Sephiroth was based on Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō, famous Japanese warriors whose duel became legendary and the swordsmen have then appeared in many forms in pop culture in Japan.

In a deleted plot point, Sephiroth was to have created the "Cloud" the player controls during the game out of his emotions and will when he was defeated during the Nibelheim Incident. The being was but a phantom of the real Cloud, and Sephiroth would be able to take complete control over it and talk through its mouth. Sephiroth's will was also to be used to create an army of monsters that would be born out of crystallized Mako. In another deleted point, when Sephiroth's true body is first seen in the Northern Cave, it would have the contours of a female.

According to Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, in the early story drafts Sephiroth was planned as a man whose "Jenova" element was artificially awoken using the power of Mako energy. His base personality was to be extremely brutal and cruel, with a strong interest in destruction and slaughter. He was also to possess a powerful will and ego, calm judgment, and a sharp mind. In the original story drafts Sephiroth would succumb to Mako addiction and suffer withdrawal symptoms and while a normal person would have been crippled, Sephiroth was a unique exception: only his
madness would be amplified while he would manage to retain his composure.

In The Reunion Files for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Nojima has stated that Sephiroth's only true goal in the film is take revenge on Cloud, who he saw as a Shinra Army rookie. His revival had been decided to occur early on in the project, but not the exact reasons or means of how he would be revived, and these details were decided at later dates. Sephiroth's dialogue was also made to sound profound, as "he thinks on a level higher than humans," and his hair and eyes were exceptionally difficult to animate. His hair was animated by hand to make sure it looked as real as possible, and he was given an otherworldly appearance with, as co-director Takeshi Nozue stated, "an attractive nose and thin lips. It's a face you'd never see in real life."

Various minor details were made to emphasize Sephiroth's other-worldly character - he was never made to blink, almost never grunted or breathed, and even in the heat of battle kept his voice calm and controlled. Nomura said that when creating Sephiroth, his appearance was set, but he had trouble deciding what kind of voice he should have - once Toshiyuki Morikawa auditioned, Nomura knew he was exactly what he wanted. Morikawa noted that, with Sephiroth's on-screen presence, he knew his final lines had to be done properly, and with input from the director, gave Sephiroth's iconic final words a sense that "he's not done yet."

Other Information

Weapons:

Masamune

The Masamune (正宗, Masamune, lit. "True Principle") is the weapon of choice for the villain Sephiroth in his various appearances in the Final Fantasy series and the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

An iconic weapon in the series, the Masamune is easily recognizable due to its massive length as a Japanese Nodachi blade. The design and color of the Tsuba (guard) and Tsuka (hilt) have varied from appearance to appearance, alternating between being blue and gold and entirely black. The exact length of the blade also varies; usually measuring at least as long as Sephiroth is tall or slightly longer, which would make it approximately six-to-eight feet long. Sephiroth's Masamune has become one of the most iconic swords in the Final Fantasy series.

Re: One Winged Angel l ダクエンジェル

Re: One Winged Angel l ダクエンジェル

You may NOT use this character/appearance for you biography, in-fact I even hold the alias for my bio since 2010. I DO NOT permit you to use it, please change the appearance and picture. Its is nothing against you, it is just that I am the only one who had this bio since two years and I want to keep it that way. I hope you understand.

Re: One Winged Angel l ダクエンジェル

Originally Posted by Blizzàrd

You may NOT use this character/appearance for you biography, in-fact I even hold the alias for my bio since 2010. I DO NOT permit you to use it, please change the appearance and picture. Its is nothing against you, it is just that I am the only one who had this bio since two years and I want to keep it that way. I hope you understand.